Nokia reported a 22 per cent year-on-year fall in sales at its network equipment unit, the main business which it will be left with after the sale of its former flagship phones business to Microsoft for €5.4 billion.

Nokia said yesterday that Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) sales fell to €3.1 billion in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, shy of expectations for €3.2 billion in a Reuters poll.

It forecast the unit’s adjusted operating margins, which rose to 11.2 per cent in the fourth quarter from 8.4 per cent in the previous quarter, to be at the higher-end of its long-target of five to10 per cent in the January-March period. NSN turned profitable in 2012 after slashing costs and shedding unprofitable businesses, helping to offset losses in its ailing mobile phone business.

While NSN’s operating margins have been strong, analysts have said it now needs to concentrate on winning more business as high research and development costs in mobile broadband technology mean bigger players have an advantage. (Reuters)

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